Week 7: Yes, yes, I am here!

AHHH it's wonderful to be here! I don't have a ton of time to write though...so sorry.

My companion is Sister H. This is her third transfer and I'm the second greenie she's had. Obviously President trusts her. She's great. I'm learning so much.

I LOVE EUROPE! This is my place, and it is wonderful. It's hard here, definitely. It's especially hard that I don't know a lot of people or a lot of people's names, but it is okay.

I wish I could send pictures of Groningen, but we are at the church and my house is a 45 minute bike ride away. Yes. It is. We live sort of in the country, but as Sister H put it, "we live in an echt fairy tale." Use Google translate. (Mom’s note: "echt" means real or genuine—same as in German)  It's so cute. But it's so far from EVERYTHING! We have a nice house (actually the house of the people in Bishop Moon's ward! I ate dinner at their parents’ house on Thursday and I'm going back this Thursday!).  Yesterday, however, we made it to church in 30 minutes!!  Needless to say we were DRIPPING in sweat. Unamused face.  But it was all fine.

My mission is going to be very hard. I know it. The first day I was here, we got dropped by an investigator. The second day I was here, I got kicked out of someone's house. The third day I was here, we visited an inactive member (who was married in the temple and active for 40 years) that has basically gone apostate. Those were all firsts for my companion who has been here 12 weeks. I know this is going to be hard. I'm glad it is. Sometimes we get home really late. Probably because my companion thinks I can bike faster than I can. I hate getting home late, but we have work to do. 

BUT WE HAVE SEEN MIRACLES! After we got kicked out of that house (abusive husband, basically), we met a little Vietnamese lady that needed help and invited us in. 

Our investigators are progressing I think. Michael and Pia are an older couple that has been taught everything. They are having a bit of an issue with accepting the fact that tithing is 10%. Michael doesn't think that God would ask for a specific amount from us. Please pray that he will get an answer and that he will pray sincerely. 

I have to go...not enough time!!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL! I know the gospel is true and that it blesses families. I know that we can do all things through Christ. I can even bike to church in 30 minutes. Ugh.

Stay strong. I challenge you all to make yourselves available to the missionaries this week. It can be hard to find joint-teaches. Be available. Love you so much.

Zuster Heilner

New address:

Sister Katie Heilner
Patrijspoort 131
9733 GS Groningen
Netherlands

Katie's first assignment is to serve in Groningen with Sister H

Tuesday, June 23, 2013

Katie arrived in Amsterdam, The Netherlands!  She was part of a large group of missionaries who are now part of history.  Here is a quote from the Belgium Netherlands blog that Sister Robinson, the wife of her Mission President publishes:

An historic number of missionaries arrived at Schiphol on Tuesday morning, July 23, 2013.  We had the Church Area Public Relations crew on hand to document this historic event.  The church members of these two countries are so happy to welcome these missionaries with open hearts. There were 29 missionaries that arrived.  Missionaries always stand out in a crowd, but it was exciting to see 29 missionaries, our AP's and President and I walk through the airport, the train station, and down the street in Leiden to the hotel.  People stopped to watch us pass.  Truly, the Army of Heleman has arrived!

Katie with all the missionaries that arrived at Schiphol on July 23, 2013

Truly an historic event!

We are so grateful Katie has this opportunity to serve and to be part of the amazing work.  

Thanks for your support!

Rosemary (Katie's Mom)

Best Day Ever

July 17, 2013

Katie's brother Spencer returned from the Brazil, Campinas Mission on Tuesday, July 16, 2013.  We were able to get permission for him to visit her in the MTC in Provo, Utah the following day, Wednesday, July 17, 2013.  They were able to spend about 40 minutes together visiting about their experiences from the past two years.  Katie described this visit as "the best day ever."  Spencer reported that Katie is ready and well prepared to go to the Netherlands!  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that visit.

We appreciate the staff at the MTC arranging this visit and allowing them to have a few minutes together before Katie left for the Netherlands.

De beste Dag ooit

Week Five: IT'S THE FINAL COUNT DOWN

July 16, 2013

Geliefde Gezin,

Nanananaaaaaa buhdabumbumbum nanananaaaa buhdabumbumbum. I'm leaving the MTC in six days!! While I do recognize that the MTC is a wonderful place of growth and learning, I am quite excited to leave. Quite excited indeed. Everyone we talk to tells us all the cool things about my mission and I just want to see it for myself! My teacher was telling us how they teach Africans a lot and I was reminded of most of the converts in Russia. I'm so excited. Remember how I told you there are Dutch speakers going to Suriname in the West Indies mission? So they have to stay here for 7 weeks for some reason. They were all informed that their VISAs were ready and that they would be going on Monday, but then they got a notification that NONE of their VISAs were ready and only two of them were reassigned temporarily. So we still have six slightly impatient Surinamers in their eighth week that can't wait to find out where they'll be reassigned.

I got to be a host last week! It was really fun. Mostly because it was a change from our normal days. But I was a host to a really cute girl going to Sweden, so she's in my zone! We get to host again tomorrow, yay! We have two elders in our district, Elder Bitters and Elder Toole who are just the biggest teddy bears ever. The whole time we were hosting Elder Bitters could barely watch the missionaries say goodbye to their families. They're so awesome. I love my district.

Dad, I had the song "There can be Mir-ACLEEEEES" stuck in my head. Here's why: We had an investigator named Ben. Ben was very, very closed off. About everything. I wanted to cry after some of his lessons. It wasn't that he would bash the Church or anything, but he wouldn't TRY to feel God's love. FINALLY, finally, we had a break through. The other sisters went to teach and my companion and I went over our lesson plan. The idea to invite him to be baptized popped into my head, but I kind of laughed at it and pushed it away because I knew there was no way he would consider it. And then my companion was like, "uh, should we mention baptism?" YES! So we changed our lesson really fast and our hard-hearted, closed-minded Ben accepted the invitation to be baptized in the seventh lesson. I was SO happy. I could really see the Spirit working with him through the lesson. He's also our teacher, and he tells us how we are very energetic. Sometimes I think it's a bad thing, but he assures us that we have to be ourselves because we, with our personalities, were called to THIS mission. So obviously, someone needs my personality.

Mark.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I love you so much, buddy. You're the best. I can't believe you're 12. I wish I could give you a hug today, but I'll give one to Spence tomorrow and he will deliver it to you. Keep watching Star Trek. Keep learning cool tricks. You're the kind of kid that can develop yourself to be the best in everything you do. Don't forget to develop your testimony too! Make sure Mom and Dad are having family prayer and scripture every night.

Annie. Thanks for the letter. I love you. And thanks for the Lana reassurance. Don't break all the boys’ hearts.

SPENCER I WILL SEE YOU IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS AND I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT. You are just da best. Can you bring me sleeping pills for the plane next week?

Mom and Dad, today must be pretty good for you. Spencer home, an email from me, and Mark is 12. It's a good thing Annie is pretty, or else you probably wouldn't even look at her today.

Oh, speaking of me leaving, I don't think I have a layover...it doesn't say I do on my travel plans. I gave you all the information that I have. But we might have one in Detroit, I don't know...it would be a surprise for us all.

IK HOU VON JULLIE. Do everything with a purpose. I know that you will find answers in the scriptures if you read with a "doel." Pray with a purpose. Live with a purpose. Christ turns outwards when we would usually turn inward. Be like that.

Did you know the song used to go "teach me all that I must KNOW" and now it's DO but it should be BE. Focus on becoming. I LOVE YOU ALL. Don't have ALL the fun without me.

OH MY GOSH. Another incredibly cool thing happened today. I was obviously very bummed that the temple was closed for all but two of my weeks here, but my district randomly got chosen to clean it today! We were just there for three hours. The elders wiped down lockers and we are sisters and we are special and we got to clean a chandelier (in sealing room 9, for the record) and put it back together! We cleaned the individual crystals. It was so beautiful. And then we got to see the bride room and they told us a story about the chandelier there. Basically the worker was really sad that three of the crystals had been broken in the shipping process. She prayed and prayed that the replacements would get there in time for the re-opening of the temple, but it wasn't going to happen. One night she was cleaning the bride room and when she picked up the manual for building the chandelier, a little baggy with three crystals of exactly the right size of the ones that had been broken fell out. She had been using that manual all along, but Heavenly Father made sure that the brides' chandelier was perfect for the day of their Sealing. I love that. And then (and I'm not allowed to tell any missionaries about this, because not everyone gets to do it), we got to sign the back of a marble tile that is going into a bathroom on the third floor of the temple!!! We wrote our names and the date of our missions and where we were serving. I was really happy that I got to do that today. I love being in the Lord's house, and I know that He knows that. He could have chosen any district, but he knows about my love for the temple. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of all of us and knows what will make us happy. He wants to make us happy. I know that when we are choosing the right, He will bless us.

Love you all and I'm so happy that I am sealed to you.

Zuster Heilner

Mijn district. We are basically like siblings after spending every waking 

moment in a confined space together.

We made a maze with all the desks in one room for the cleaning people.

 Don't worry, there was a prize at the end.

Thai Elders

Our teacher Broeder R

I love the temple

Week Four: Repetitive Days, Sleepless Nights

Geliefde Gezin:

 A fellow Dutchie said it pretty well just a second ago:

"So what do I tell my family? Gewangenis is the same?"

Direct translation: the MTC (prison) is the same.

The MTC is awesome, but I'm very, very ready to leave. I mean, I should probably learn more Dutch and how to better teach people, but... I've never been a fan of being told exactly how to spend my life, and guess what. I have every single second of my life planned here! And so for some reason (perhaps the fact that my mind has to run 100 mph all day) I can NEVER wind down at night. It probably doesn't help that the A/C in my room is broken, but to anybody about to enter the MTC, if you have something that helps you sleep  (like pillow spray or a specific blanket or whatever), BRING IT. Tossing and turning and knowing you have to be awake and alert at 6:30 is not very fun.

On a happier note, I am learning a ton! Dutch is coming along quite well. I love the language. My favorite word is "knuffeltje" which means hug. Remember when Spencer told us he was the designated hugger?

Oscar, since I do know for a fact that you are reading this: The Swedes have left the MTC. Watch out for them. They're great. Go up to them and ask them why missionaries don't read the newspaper, maybe they'll have a better answer for you. And ask them if they know me because they're AWESOME. Also, you are right. The MTC is actually the CIA language training center facility. We are watching you. JK!

We had a pretty cool Fourth! We watched 17 Miralces (thought of you, (Darth) Vader) and we had our own 18th miracle: we got to eat ice cream and watch Stadium of Fire fireworks and stay up past our bedtime! Talk about a party.

Annie, I loved your letter. Except...the whole time I was reading about the boys at EFY I was like, "don't you have a boyfriend?" But of course you can't keep the men away. I would never expect that of you. I kind of miss your daily selfies, too. Every day at 1 pm, something is just missing in my life. Probably a picture of you. Also, are you taking German next year? That better be a yes. Say hi to Herr F for me. He is awesome and I love him.

In other news, the Mockingjay theme has been spreading across the MTC campus lately. Someone whistles it and then it's whistled back and it basically never ends. It's kinda fun. Maybe Katniss will show up soon.

  

IK HOU VON JULLIE! Ik ben so dankbaar voor dit evangelie. Ik weet dat God onze Hemelse Vader is en dat Hij houdt van ons. Door de verzoening, kunnen wij gelluckig zijn. And I also know that God doesn't judge us for not being able to spell in a foreign language. I know that when we pray, God hears us and wants to answer us. He will answer us if we are patient and seek answers.

Thank you for all the love and support!

Zuster Heilner

We got really excited that it was raining on Sunday.  We all put our rain gear

 on for the temple walk and then it stopped raining when we walked outside. :(

Surinamers doing “the Heilner” we were all taking pictures and someone goes "do the Heilner" 

and this resulted. Heilners around the world, I hope you're proud.

Fourth of July! We probably all watched the same fireworks show!

                         

We miss the Swedes! 

Week 3: BANG and F Words!

Dear Family,

I really couldn't think of a good subject line for this week. So it's a little risqué, but it works because the MTC gets pretty monotonous. But last night I played a game called Bang, and I think some of us are going to be playing it again today since we can't go to the temple. So, to get all of your attention, BANG. Oh, and it's the Fourth of July and we get to watch the stadium of fire fireworks, so that's pretty cool. Of course Spencer misses his favorite American holiday by like two weeks.  

My dear family. Pray always. We are so blessed to be able to talk to our Heavenly Father. Never forget the blessing it is to be able to pray and receive answers. Trying to explain that to investigators can be really tough, so don't take it for granted, mmkay? Mmkay.

This week we learned all the Dutch words that sound like the F word. There are quite a few of them! We seriously had a whole lesson devoted to it so that we could get our giggles out now and not when we ask someone what their profession is (vakker is a breeder and vak is profession). Only one of our teachers taught us that though, so when one of the Elders companionships was teaching their investigator (our other teacher) and asked him what he does for a living, he had never heard that before and HE started laughing. The teacher that taught us (Broeder Robinson) is actually Dutch and he was very surprised that Broeder Mohrman had never heard it. 

I am really sad that this week was boring...it makes for quite a lame email, and usually I look forward to what I'm going to say to you guys!

Grammy, bless you for the cake bites. Mom, bless you for the peanut butter bars. That was one great thing about this week. I was very much taken care of in the way of sweets, which is a very important thing to me. So thank you.

Dad, I was going to write a pun, but then decided it just really isn't funny enough. So you're welcome.

We had Janice Kapp Perry speak to us! She is awesome and I want my husband to be as cute as her's when we are old and wrinkly.

And then we had Sheri Dew, the CEO of Deseret Book, talk to us in RS. She's great too. She talked about how we have to use our agency to let the Spirit teach us. We have to learn how Heavenly Father talks to US--but we can ask him to help us learn. I'd never thought about that. If we tell Heavenly Father we are ready to receive guidance, we are more likely to get it.

Also, "To receive HIS power, we must do HIS work in HIS way" -Elder Robert C. Gay

I can't think of much else, so I will send pictures now.

I LOVE YOU PEOPLE. SO, SO, SO MUCH. Thank you for the love, support and letters. Mark, keep 'em coming. They make me so happy. Plus, you have ten more points than Annie right now because she hasn't written me at all.

Love,

Zuster Heilner

Missionary Pictures are beyond awkward.  Elders Alpeter and Helm

Da Zone: Sweden, Belgium/Netherlands, and Surinam. And we are getting Danes tomorrow!

Dress like an Elder Day!

Not bad, huh?! That was what Elder Robbins drew. Elder Alpeter (Surinam) and me.

Our awesome sister training leaders. They're leaving for Sweden on Monday. I always tell them to look for Oscar.

Zusters and Systers

A united companionship:  we have the same tweezers and headlamps